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Dana Whitlock gets ready to serve during a game in the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Mike Bodge, left, and Stephen Balsbaugh, right, congratulate each other after their game in the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Anne Kopf-Sill watches the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament during a break from playing at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Grace Mah gets ready to volley the ball back during a game in the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
A player competes in the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Sam Sweet watches a game during the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Miguel Santos lunges to reach the ball during a game in the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Palo Alto Pickelball Club President Monica Williams competes in the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier. 
Bags full of pickelball equipment at the Bay Area Senior Games Pickleball Tournament at Mitchell Park in Palo Alto on May 24, 2024. Photo by Magali Gauthier.
The 2024 Bay Area Senior Games, which began in March with consecutive swimming, tennis, archery, golf and water polo tournaments, continued on Friday, May 24, on Mitchell Park’s small tennis-like courts where residents say they can “leave the stress behind.”
Over 100 people showed up at the senior pickleball tournament in Palo Alto on May 24, the first day of the tournament, exemplifying the senior games’ message that “competition never grows old.”
Friday kicked off a four-day-long tournament with singles day, and over 400 people competed over the weekend at the 15-court park.
The games, which began in 2006, are always an inspiring event, said Anne Warner Cribbs, former Olympian and CEO of the Bay Area Senior Games.
“It’s important because people are out and about getting exercise in a time when there’s a lot of concern about isolation, especially in the senior population,” Warner Cribbs said.
For Palo Altans, pickleball is not only a way to be active, but also a way to socialize.
After retiring early, Amy Lauterbach, president of the Palo Alto Pickleball Club, said she had to go out of her way to interact with people.
“But when someone waved me onto the pickleball court, I knew it was what I needed,” she said, “It’s all about the friendship.”
Friday’s games commenced with women’s singles. People dressed in sportswear and visors stretched and prepared to begin their matches.
Kathy Harrington leaned over a fence dividing the courts, waiting for her match to begin. She’s a part of an “early worms group” that plays pickleball each morning around 5 a.m.
Harrington has made countless friends in what she says is a space that is always welcoming.
“Pickleball is life,” Harrington said. “We have parties at 6 a.m. If you asked me last year if I would wake up that early to play pickleball, I wouldn’t believe it.”
On Saturday the tournament continued with doubles day, where hundreds of people competed.
“I don’t know if it’s the sport, or the outdoors,” Lauterbach said. “But everyone here is just happy.”
After the pickleball games, the tournament will continue through November with track and field, a 5K race, a walk race, a power walk, basketball, soccer and badminton competitions.
The top four competitors in each division will qualify for the 2025 Summer National Senior Games in Iowa. More information about the tournaments and results can be found on the Bay Area Senior Games website.
